Month Nine
by codexfawkes
Summary: The fourth installment of my year and a day marriage saga. "We'd need to work up to that, but if nothing else I can offer you a hand or two." River answered honestly.


Month Nine

Disclaimer: I own nothing Joss is boss.

"Stand down, it's finished…we're finished." The Operatives voice echoed through the cavernous space of Mr. Universe's complex. Slowly the purple bellies lowered their guns pointing them at the floor instead of at River. In the next tense moments the remaining crew of Serenity and the soldiers watched and waited as the shivering form of River Tam stayed poised for a fight. Her brown eyes were wide and feral, her hands restlessly shifting the blades she'd stolen from her fallen prey. It was clear that an internal battle between the girl and the weapon was being waged, leaving those watching near breathless with fear of the outcome. Tension among the alliance personal began to build again as they shifted uncomfortably the seconds ticking by with River making no move to drop her weapons. Feeling the tension around her rise River flicked a cold glance over her shoulders, her entire posture one of defiance screaming that she would live free or die trying. Looking back toward the crew she scanned over the group her eyes finally settling on Jayne. Blue eyes held hers as she pushed the last of the weapon aside, her eyes clearing weapons finally dropping from her hands. "My people are hurt, we need doctors…NOW!" she ordered causing the purple bellies to scatter calling in med teams as they moved. As he watched the very men sent to kill her scurry to do River's bidding Mal couldn't help it, he began to laugh.

Hours later when the crew had been moved to the med bay of one of the remaining alliance ships, River walked from room to room checking in on her people. Alliance personnel skirted her nervously, not only because she was a previously wanted felon who single handedly slaughtered thirty Reavers with nothing but primitive blades, but because her hair, dress and skin were still caked with dirt, sweat and dried blood. "I done told you to forget it, after seein the almighty alliance's idea a helpin folk I'd rather wait til Simon wakes up." Jayne's voice echoed loudly in the hall. Frowning to herself River opened the door to find the big man in a face off with an aggravated doctor. "Jayne?" she asked moving to his side. "I ain't lettin 'em touch me." He growled his eyes never moving from the doctors face. River reached out and touched his uninjured shoulder. "The bullets need to come out, blood flow to your arm has been mostly cut off by one of the bullets lodged in an artery. If the blood flow isn't returned soon you'll lose your arm." She cautioned softly. Jayne's eyes flew to hers, terror stark in their depths. River slid her hand up to cup his cheek. "I'll be here the whole time watching to make sure they don't make a mistake or do anything wrong." She promised. "Now see here, you can't be in surgery! Your filthy and not even family." Dr. Wren protested. "I will bath, as for the other I'm his wife. Now would you rather he allow you to do the operation and have me standing across from you or would you rather do the surgery with me standing there pointing a gun at your spine? The choice is yours." River replied coldly. "Do as she says doctor." A cultured voice ordered causing them all to look toward the door. The Operative stood there an amused if beaten expression on his face. Dr. Wren nodded stiffly acknowledging the order reluctantly. "I will require the use of a shower and clean clothing." River said looking defiantly at the Operative. "Certainly Miss Tam, or should I say Mrs. Cobb?" the Operative asked quirking an eyebrow at Jayne. "I've come a long way from the gibbering mess your masters left me in." River bit out. "They were right about one thing, you are a creature of extraordinary grace." He commented. "The bathroom attached to this room has a shower, I'll have a nurse bring you what you need." The Operative assured her before leaving them alone. "Promise me babygirl, as a wife to her husband, if I ain't gonna wake up wit two arms I ain't wakin up." Jayne said his voice cracking. "I swear." River told him solemnly.

Jayne slowly rose to consciousness, incrementally becoming aware of his surroundings. His mind taking stock of various sensations. The cool air from the vents on his face, the thin scratchy blanket. The pressure of someone holding his left hand caused his eyes to pop open in a panic. "Can't feel my right arm! Why can't I feel my right arm?" he barked out terrified to look. River was suddenly hovering over him, her hands running over his face. "Hush husband, it's still there. The medication made your arm numb, it will wear off in a few hours." She soothed. "You sure it's there?" Jayne asked his fear getting the better of him. Instead of answering River picked up is left hand and guided it to his right shoulder, slowly running his hand down his right arm from shoulder to fingers. "See all whole." River told him. Breathing a sigh of relief Jayne finally looked over at his arm and concentrated on making his fingers move. They made a fist and he grinned up at her. "Kinda weird seein it move without feelin it." He remarked relaxing again. "As the drugs wear off the sensations will come start coming back." River replied moving back into the chair by his bed.

"How's everyone else?" Jayne asked looking over at her. "Mal had the go se kicked out of him again; has a few broken ribs, broken nose and various bumps and bruises. They patched him up and now he's sleeping, Inara's with him. Zoe needed surgery to clean and close the wound on her back, she's unconscious in the bed next to Mal's but should wake in the morning. Kaylee was given an antidote to the poison the darts injected and is resting comfortably in the same room that Simon's recovering from surgery to remove the bullet in." River related. "What about the ship?" he asked. "I told them not to touch her until they get the okay from Mal. I did go with a detail to get Wash. I cleaned him up best I could in the infirmary and put him in the cryo box. Nothing else I could do for him." River replied her eyes filling with tears. "Shouldn't a had to go through that alone." Jayne told her. "If wishes were horses we'd all be eating steak." She answered with a half hearted smile. Jayne's eyes began to droop as weariness flooded him. "Sleep now, I'll be here when you wake up." River promised taking his hand in hers.

The next day River walked into Mal and Zoe's room to find him arguing with the commander of the ship they were on. "What the hell do you mean you had people on my ship? She's my gorram boat! No one sets foot on Serenity without my okay." Mal ranted as Inara tried to soothe him. "Sir?" River questioned getting Mal's attention. "Albatross, you okay darlin?" he asked his entire demeanor changing at the sight of her. River crossed to stand by his bed and nodded. "As alright as possible." She confirmed. Mal nodded his understanding and took her hand. "Captain, I know I should have gotten your permission but I was the one who let a small group of men on the ship. I was with the three of them the entire time and only did so because I couldn't free Wash from the chair myself. I didn't feel right just leaving him there." She explained softly. "Where is he?" Zoe asked painfully. "In the cryo pod I was transported in. I thought it the best solution until decisions could be made. I also had Mr. Universe and Lenore brought on this ship. She insisted on being deactivated." River reported gently. Zoe nodded her approval and closed her eyes, unable to stop the tears from slipping down her cheeks. "Captain Reynolds, I really must insist you allow my people to tow your ship to the nearest repair yard. We cannot sit here in this wreckage of a complex indefinitely." Commander Sota stated. "No, what you're going to do is get that Operative in here to talk to me. I'll settle things with him, not you." Mal replied stubbornly. Sota opened his mouth to argue when River flashed him a look of pure venom, causing him to shudder and snap his mouth shut before whirling on his heel and stalking out of the room. At that moment nothing could have prevented the chuckle that erupted from Mal's throat. "Looks like I got me my very own watch dog." He teased tugging her hair affectionately. River ducked her head at his praise, a smile tugging at her lips. "I love my captain." She whispered kissing Mal on the cheek before heading out the door to check on Simon.

After some intense negotiations it was agreed that they would stay put for a few days until the crew could heal enough to oversee the burial of Wash, Mr. Universe, Shepard Book and the others on Haven. Once the memorials had been installed and the funerals complete Mal allowed the crew and ship to be transported to New Canaan, the closest planet with a repair yard. The Operative arranged for supplies and parts to be delivered to Serenity's berth so they could put their home back together. Over the weeks they slowly healed and pieced their home back together. The hull had thankfully not been as damaged as Mal had fear in the crash onto the moon, but it would take quite a bit of work before she would be space worthy again.

Two weeks into the work Jayne found himself standing in front of a panel of ripped up wiring trying to remember Kaylee's instructions before she'd rushed off to the bridge where Mal was yelling something about space monkeys. "You don't want to do that." a voice cautioned as he moved to attach a blue wire to a red one. "Huh?" he asked looking up to see River partially hanging out of a vent. "If you do that it's going to short circuit and start a fire." She replied pointing at the wires. "Gorram it, don't know why Kaylee set me to this." He growled letting the wires fall. River disappeared back into the vent only for her feet to appear. "Catch me." She said sliding toward him. Jayne cursed and quickly stepped closer grabbing River by the waist and helping her down. Jayne slowly lowered her to the ground, her entire front sliding along his own. Once she was on her feet Jayne didn't immediately let go but instead they stood there silently looking at each other until the heard foot steps heading toward them. Stepping back out of his arms with a slight blush on her cheeks River turned to the circuit board and quickly finished the rewiring Kaylee had left him with.

"Never could understand how anybody could keep straight where all that stuff goes and how one thing connects to another." Jayne said leaning against the wall watching her. "I bet you could learn. It's really just a matter of knowing what each system does and how it goes together, that way if it gets scrambled you can put it to rights. Just like I bet if you were to take all your guns apart then mix all the pieces together you'd be able to reassemble everything good as new. Might take some time but you could do it." River offered. "Damn right I could." Jayne agreed with a grin. "There all finished, of course Kaylee did most of it." She said smiling up at him. "You got much more to do up there?" Jayne asked glancing up at the open vent she'd been in. "No, I'd just finished when I sensed your frustration." River replied closing the panel and turning to face him. "Jayne, need you to go pick up the parts Kaylee ordered, for some gorram reason these ones they won't deliver. Take the mini mule." Mal ordered. "Can I go with him?" River asked. "You wanna go get parts?" Mal questioned. "Want to go outside, I've been working in the vents for days." River explained. "Guess I can understand that little one. Okay you can go, but you stick close to Jayne and don't dawdle we ain't got all the time in the verse. I wanna be tastin black this time next week." Mal said before heading off to do captainy things.

While River ran to her dorm to get her boots and throw a light skirt on over her shorts Jayne got the mini mule prepped and ready to go. By the time she returned to the cargo bay Jayne had the mini idling and was sitting on it waiting for her. River hopped on behind him and slid close, gripping his waist and after a moments hesitation lifting her legs to wrap them around his waist. "Babygirl?" he questioned looking over his shoulder at her, one hand resting on her bare calf. "Captain said to stick close." She replied a mischievous gleam in her eyes. Jayne leered back at her before facing forward and gunning the engine, the mule shooting forward River's squeal of delight filling the air. At the sound of his sister's laughter Simon stuck his head out of the lounge where he was repairing the sofa and frowned at the blur that was the mini mule as it sped off onto the docks. Putting down the hammer he'd been using to reattach one of the legs, Simon went looking for Mal finding him by the upper air lock hatch repairing a section of inner hull. "Mal, where did River go?" he asked. "She went with Jayne to pick up some parts that they wouldn't deliver. Something about an extra weight fee beyond the original price if we wanted it delivered." Mal replied as he secured the panel. "Why did River need to go?" Simon asked shoving a hand through his hair. "She didn't need to, girl asked to go. Said she wanted to get outside for a bit after spending so many days crawling in the vents rewiring stuff no one else could get to." Mal told him gathering tools. "I don't feel comfortable with her just disappearing like that. In the future I'd appreciate it if you asked me before sending her off somewhere." Simon said with a sigh. "Look doc, I get you're worried. But since Miranda your sister's been all manner of sane and rational. Even if that weren't the case this is my ship and River's crew, she goes where I tell her to go. Get back to work." Mal ordered moving past him.

By the time they got to the parts shop on the other side of the docks Jayne was fully aroused from having River plastered to him like that. Noticing the way the workers were staring at River's legs he gently untangled them from his waist and lowered them down, smoothing her skirt to cover as much skin as possible. Smiling against his back River leaned up and nipped his ear with her teeth. "Girl, you best quit it 'fore these guys get one helluva show." Jayne growled looking back at her with lust filled eyes. River rested her chin on his back and looked up at him with a flirty smile. Jayne huffed and looked forward again, grumbling half heartedly about brown eyed crazy girls sent to bother him. River smothered a giggle as one of the workers approached them. "Name and ship?" he asked in a bored tone not looking up from his data pad. "Reynolds, from Serenity." River replied smiling. The worker looked up blinking at the sound of her voice and slowly smiled. "Hey there darlin, wanna sign this invoice for me?" he asked. Jayne snarled and grabbed the pad, quickly scrawling his name at the bottom before thrusting it back toward the man. The dock worker took the pad and swiftly stepped back. "Parts will be right out." The man said before quickly walking toward the next customer. River soothed her hands down Jayne's back before wrapping her arms around his waist and snuggling into him. "My hero." She said rubbing her cheek against his t-shirt. Jayne grunted glaring at the worker that had just appeared with a crate of parts. River let go of Jayne and turn to inspect the parts before securing them to the rack and dismissing the worker. "All set." She said sliding forward and gripping his waist again.

Late that night Jayne sat in his bunk tired but unable to sleep. His mind kept dwelling on this weird thing he had with River. As much as he was attracted to her and on one level wanted to keep her close, on another she confounded and sometimes frightened him with the things she could do. A soft knock on his hatch brought him Jayne out of his thoughts. It was her, it had to be. No one else would have bothered seeking him out like that. Jayne climbed off the bed and walked over opening his hatch. "Hey." He said looking up at her. "May I come down?" she asked nervously. Jayne nodded and moved back, sitting on his bunk. River followed him down sitting next to him. "So now what?" he asked. "I know the biggest problem you have with me is my reading. I can't turn it off. I can't promise I won't pick up what you're thinking. Part of my brain was taken out, I can't change that. But the truth is I'll hear you whether we're more than crew or not. I can promise you I will never, ever repeat what I hear and I would rather die than use any of it against you. I will never dig, or deliberately go looking through your thoughts and that goes for whatever type of relationship we have even if we're nothing more than shipmates. So the only question in my mind is if you can accept me the way I am or not." River said never looking up from her clasped hands. River stood and faced him before gently kissing him. "Good night Jayne." She said before swiftly heading up the ladder leaving him alone with his thoughts once more.

Over the next week the crew worked long hard hours to get Serenity space worthy again. Finally as a hard rain poured down on the ship yard the last inspector gave them the okay to head back into the black. River spent hours on the bridge with Mal flying the ship together in companionable silence. "So I'm going to ask something I never thought I'd have to ask. What's going on between you and Jayne?" Mal finally asked. "We're friends who are attracted to each other, for now that's all." River replied with a shrug. "Is that likely to change in the near future?" Mal asked turning to face her. "That depends on him." River told him honestly, a soft blush on her cheeks. "I'm not going to pretend to understand what you see in Jayne and I learned from Zoe and Kaylee my rule about ship board romances is just a fantasy. But darlin' you're real young and got forced to grow up too damn fast. I ain't gonna tell you not to do it, just watch yourself okay? I don't want neither a you gettin ripped apart by this. I want peace on my boat for a good long time. Dong ma?" he asked. "Wo dong." River answered with a small smile. "Good enough. I'm gonna shut her down for the night, why don't you head off to bed." He ordered.

River made her way down to her dorm, glancing at Simon's empty room with a grin. Pausing outside her own door River's grinned deepened as she slid the door open to find Jayne lounging on her bed reading the book she'd tucked under her pillow. "You been holdin out on me girl, you got porn." He teased grinning at her as River slid the door shut. "Girl porn is called romance novels, but yes it's still porn." She agreed nudging his feet aside for she could sit on the end of the bed facing him as Jayne lounged against her pillows. "So, if we actually tried this what exactly would you expect of me?" he asked tossing the book aside and crossing his arms behind his head. "I'd expect you to stop whoring and only get physical gratification from me. I can't promise to immediately start sexing you. We'd need to work up to that, but if nothing else I can offer you a hand or two." River answered honestly. "Stop whoring, that's it? You don't want me to give up smokin, an swearin, an fightin and makin fun of the doc?" Jayne asked skeptically. "Well if you'd at least attempt to be nicer to my brother I'd appreciate it, but he's not going to be easy on you about me and I can't expect you to just sit back and take his insults. That's not who you are." River replied sincerely. "What's the catch?" he asked suspiciously. River laughed and moved up onto her knees between his legs. "Jayne…catch." She said letting herself fall into his startled arms. Jayne stared down at her giggling face for a long moment. "You ain't quite right, you know that babygirl." He said a smile tugging at his lips. "It's a popular theory." She returned wrapping her arms around her neck.


End file.
